Gameplay details

Type

Behind the scenes information

Designer

A yeti with a love for bone carvings. Stronger than a gigas... but a bit unruly.

Game description

Umaro is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is a Yeti who lives deep in the Narshe Mines, uses primitive stone tools, and answers only to Mog. He is an optional character who can be recruited in the World of Ruin. He is capable of limited speech. In battle, Umaro cannot be given commands and will use physical attacks endlessly, but has high physical stats, can deal greater damage with some relics, and can be used to great effect in certain scenarios.

Contents

Umaro is a giant Yeti with purple skin and white fur covering most of his body, except for his face, hands and feet. He is the largest member of the party and is extremely strong, being capable of picking up and throwing other party members.

Despite his intimidating appearance, Umaro obeys the much smaller Mog, as the latter seems to know how to control him. He will willingly follow the party at his prompting, although he will not obey battle commands.

According to Hironobu Sakaguchi, Umaro has a strong sense of honor and feels like he owes a debt to Mog, because Mog shared some food with him when he had collapsed from exhaustion.[4]

In the World of Balance, Umaro pokes his head out of an unreachable part of the mine. A (drunken) resident of Narshe says he "saw some Moogles playing with a Yeti". After the party acquires Valigarmanda in the World of Ruin, the way to Yeti's Cave opens. When they take his precious stone (the magiciteMidgardsormr), Umaro gets angry and challenges the party to a fight. If the party wins, Umaro lets them pass. If Mog is in the party, he will order Umaro to join.

When the party is escaping Kefka's Tower following their victory, Umaro crushes some rocks to open up a passage. He stands next to Gogo on the airship when the party makes it to safety.

Umaro is recruitable as a playable character after being fought as a boss. He is a Berserker who cannot be given commands, but has high physical stats. He has four attacks he uses randomly. While he can be potentially strong the inability to select his commands makes him unreliable.

The restrictions on physical attacks in the Cultists' Tower do not apply to Umaro, and his permanent armor, the Snow Muffler, restores HP when he is hit with an Ice type spell. Most enemies in the tower have abysmal physical defense, and thus Umaro can prove a huge asset. He may also be useful in the Dragon's Neck Coliseum where everyone's actions are random and all of Umaro's actions are offensive and powerful at that.

Umaro can act during Cyan'sBushido techniques, while most party members cannot.

Hidden game data suggests Umaro was at some point intended to be able to be encountered in the World of Balance, as an unused battle complete with stats and a simple AI script exists within the game's data. In addition, Umaro has a placement on the Blackjack, but it can only be seen by hacking Umaro into the party or using the airship glitch. He uses the same line as the one when he's inside the Falcon.

In Secret of Evermore, Umaro appears among the crowd of spectators that includes other Final Fantasy VI characters at the gladiator battle of Antiqua. He appears alongside Terra, Locke, Mog, Relm, and Strago.

[view·edit·purge]Umaro is a portmanteau of the Japanese term for cryptids, UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animal), and the Japanese suffix "maru".
He is also known as Yeti. [view·edit·purge]The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid taller than an average human that is said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet.